NAL Premiership Round 3 – Eton – Saturday 22nd August
Written by Alex Seftel
Thames Valley Harriers reclaimed the National Athletics League Premiership title from Harrow AC by securing an all-important top-two finish in the final match of the season on a day when two all-time league records were broken.
In an exciting meeting at a sun-soaked Eton, Tonbridge AC’s Ted Higgins stunned onlookers with a men’s 1500m time that broke a 37-year-old record, while for match winners Harrow, Charlotte Payne rubber-stamped herself as the greatest women’s hammer thrower the league has ever seen.
Finishing in the bottom two places, Tonbridge and Swansea Harriers were relegated back to the Championship, but Birchfield Harriers rallied to pull off a great escape for the second season in a row.
The battle for third place overall went right down to the final event, with 17-year-old Sean Connor-Atafo’s triple jump win for Woodford Green making the difference as they overtook Glasgow Jaguars.
Higgins pulled away in the 1500m to finish in 3:38.75, eclipsing the time of 3:38.9 set by 1990 Commonwealth medallist Ian Hamer back in 1989. It was Ted’s third victory of the season and followed twin brother Jack winning the 800m in 1:46.89, not too far shy of Sebastian Coe’s record of 1:46.18.
Payne threw her hammer personal best of 72.51m in Eton three years ago, but that was as a guest, not an NAL club competitor. As a result, her 71.82m on the day beat her own best performance of 70.52m from 2022.
It was the opposite situation for New Zealand pole vaulter Livi McTaggart who cleared a bar three centimetres higher than Molly Caudery’s NAL record of 4.50m, but did so as a guest, meaning that her performance is an unofficial competition best but not eligible for a league record. Tilly Hooper of Birchfield was the first of the scoring athletes with a best of 4.23m. Commonwealth pole vault bronze medallist Owen Heard also entertained, clearing 5.30m before going close at 5.50m.
Harrow were simply the most consistent winners across the day, from Steph Okoro’s 400m hurdles triumph, to wins in both women’s relay races and a margin of 13 seconds between GB junior athlete Bradley Andrews-Callec and the rest of the field in the 3000m steeplechase (9:08.67). They also took top spot in the women’s 800m, 1500m and 3000m through Sofia Vidak, Suzie Monk and Kirsti Foster respectively.
For TVH, Louise Evans’ return to form this year continued as she won the 200m, while Lily Hulland’s 12.80m triple jump win preceded her taking part in a rare 4x400m. Samantha Callaway achieved important points with a shot put win and second place in the discus.
Woodford were generally stronger in the field events and Atafo’s win followed similar success for Kike Agoro in the javelin (48.14m) and Kirsty Law in the discus (49.24m). Glasgow Jaguars’ Alicia Paton lead from the front in the women’s 2000m steeplechase, pushing hard to the line to just creep under seven minutes (6:59.23). A strong 4x100m quartet featuring Commonwealth Games relay finalists Lucy Fraser and Alyson Bell were runners up, meaning they finished in the top two in the event in all three meetings across the season.
Birchfield had shown their resolve on home soil in Birmingham last year, fighting to get enough points to remain in the top division. They started off in business-like fashion on the track, winning the 400m hurdles through Commonwealth silver medallist Jake Minshull in 49.97, before Tobie Watson took the B race in 53.57. Later, Will Ritchie-Moulin came through for 110m hurdles victory in 14.07 in what was his last ever race. His side were home and dry by the time that Efe Okoro came sailing through to cut the metaphorical tape in the men’s 4x400m, wearing smart glasses to record iconic scenes of celebration first-hand at the end of the race.
Windsor, Slough, Eton and Hounslow were the host club this time and they did just enough to remain in the league, helped by a club record by exactly half a second in the men’s 4x100m. Individual 200m winner Matthew Ajayi (21.36) was joined by Tyvon Inniss, Geiovannie Sealy and Tyler Panton in clocking 40.57. That improved on what Andrew Matthews, Rion Pierre, Fahad Khan and Mark Holloway did in the old British Athletics League in Stoke in 2005. Meanwhile, Jake Norris achieved his 11th NAL win recording a distance of 75.24, European under-20 medallist Michael Allison achieved an impressive javelin mark of 75.15m, and former GB under-20 international Brook Cronin clocked 46.33 in the 400m to get the better of Harrow’s Thomas Hockley.
Asha Root was incredibly busy on the day for Tonbridge, but her highlight came in winning the 400m in 53.96, while Team England Decathlete Lewis Church was third in both the pole vault and 110m hurdles.
Swansea’s Michael Jenkins surprised Olympian Nick Percy in the discus with a best of 55.25 compared to 54.12 for the Scottish athlete. Also in the field, Sam Davies beat Harrow’s Divine Duruaku on countback with both clearing 2.11.